Inside the Forbidden Zone around the Fukushima Power plant: Naoto Matsumura
KORIYAMA, Japan — Naoto Matsumura is tired of being accused of madness for refusing to leave his farm in the shadow of Japan’s still-leaking Fukushima nuclear plant.
“I’m not crazy,” insists the 52-year-old, who claims he is the only person living in the no-go zone around the crippled reactors on Japan’s tsunami-ravaged northeast coast.
As far as he knows, everyone else heeded the government’s calls to leave the 20-kilometre (12-mile) exclusion zone around the plant, where nine months on from the disaster, technicians are still working to bring things under control.
Since everyone else left he has been alone near the town of Tomioka, save for around a hundred cats, a dozen dogs and hundreds of cows, pigs and chickens abandoned by their owners.
Matsumura is aware that the doses of radiation he probably absorbs every day are dangerous. But he says he is less afraid of the radiation than he is of being deprived of his cigarettes.
“I like smoking. If I quit smoking right now, I may become ill,” he laughed.
With no electricity, he carefully rations the fuel he buys in a nearby city for his vehicle and his generators.
His only day-to-day link with the outside world is his mobile phone.
He worries that the coal left behind by his neighbours might not last out the increasingly bitter winter weather as temperatures in the region continue to fall.
Speaking to AFP in the city of Koriyama, outside the restricted area, the hermit appears to be in good health, despite the harsh conditions he has imposed on himself.
Tens of thousands of people left their homes around the plant when the earthquake-sparked tsunami of March 11 swamped its cooling systems, sending reactors into meltdown and spewing radiation into the air and sea.
Large parts of the evacuation zone are likely to remain uninhabitable for a long time to come, perhaps decades.
Matsumura says he fought against being evacuated from the area that he calls home and eventually received permission from authorities to come and go as he pleases.
In the panic that surrounded the evacuation of Tomioka on March 15, many people had neither the time nor the resources to do anything about their farm animals and pets.
He says his biggest concern is for those animals, which are facing a winter without shelter or food.
“These animals need human beings. The food that I have will not be enough to last until the end of December,” he said.
“They need shelter and food, but I’m the only one taking care of them, when it should be the role of government,” he said.
Matsumura says nine months after the area was evacuated, he is still shocked when he discovers the bodies of animals.
“I have seen many animals dying, from disease or hunger, some left tied up. I saw cows who were still able to eat grass where the rope around their muzzles had cut into the flesh as the animals have grown. These creatures are bleeding to death.”
One of his friends begged him to go home to free the twenty canaries he had left in a cage. “When I entered the house, it was too late. They were all dead.”
Matsumura says he is not lonely. He has been separated from his wife for ten years and his grown-up children live in Saitama prefecture, near Tokyo. They are worried for him, but he refuses to leave.
“I am never bored or depressed. I got used to being alone and lonely,” he said.
As evening falls and the area is plunged into darkness, Matsumura finds himself at a loose end.
“I go to bed very early, around 7:00 pm, because I cannot do anything anyway.”
In the morning, he rises with the sun and, followed by his dogs, spends half the day feeding the animals.
He himself eats mainly canned food and rice, because everything that grows on the ground is contaminated. “My diet is not really very good,” he admits.
He regularly drives outside the restricted area to buy cigarettes and food.
“Some Japanese media have tried to make me look foolish by saying that I was eating contaminated mushrooms. But in reality, I pick them up to give to researchers. I’m not crazy,” he said.
Matsumura says he would like the government or plant operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) to come and pick up the dead animals.
The answer he gets when he asks is always the same.
“‘Sorry Mr. Matsumura,’ they say,’we cannot do anything inside the exclusion zone.'”
The future of his town is not a bright one, he says. He thinks Tomioka, like other places that have been evacuated, will one day vanish from the map.
And he knows exactly what is to blame for that.
“I do not want the power plant to start working again. I want the place to disappear.”
Renaissance et espoir économique sur les côtes Japonaises dévastées par le Grand Tsunami du 11 mars dernier
Ofunato, le 31 août 2011, Nathalie-Kyoko Stucky
Au marché au poissons de Ofunato, Madame Shoko Tada, 52 ans, a un sourire aux lèvres ce matin. Depuis 6 heure du matin, elle est une des rares femmes affairée dans le hall du marché aux poissons de Ofunato, cette ville qui a été dévastée il y a six mois par le grand Tsunami qui a ravagé la côte nord du Japon: “Je suis heureuse d’avoir retrouvé un travail ici”. Ce matin, un bateau de pêche venu de Hokkaido leur a livré une cargaison de poisson “sanma”, des poissons-couteaux du Pacifique, fins et brillants comme des lames d’argents, très appréciés au Japon à cette saison.
Il y a six mois, le Japon tout entier a vécu un désastre humanitaire qui a été décris comme étant le plus grand traumatisme national depuis la deuxième Guerre mondiale. Des milliers de personnes ont perdus leur vie lors de cette catastrophe, et encore aujourd’hui, on ne connaît pas le nombre exacte de disparus. Combinés avec l’accident nucléaire de Fukushima, qui n’est lui non plus pas encore entièrement résolu, la nation toute entière vit dans une peur constante que le gouvernement ne lui annonce une autre mauvaise nouvelle. L’ancien Premier Ministre Naoto Kan a dû céder sa place il y a une semaine à l’ancien Ministre de la Finance, Yoshihiko Noda, parce que son cabinet n’avait pas su prendre en main la situation. Depuis le mois de mars dernier, bien que la situation se soit bien améliorée à Tokyo, cette mégalopole jadis connue pour ses néons et ses “conbini” ouverts 24 heures sur 24, permettant au consomateur de se satisfaire à n’importe quel moment de la journée, est devenue bien plus modeste, et la fureur lumineuse s’est bien éteinte. Les habitants du Japon font face à une grande crise économique et environementale qui les a poussé à apprendre à économier l’energie et à trouver un moyen de ne plus dépendre de l’énergie nucléaire. Partout dans les métros souterrains ou dans les lieux publiques, on pratique le “setsuden”: les trains circulent un peu moins fréquement à certaines heures, afin de permettre aux usines de fonctionner durant les heures cruciales de la journée.
Le grand tsunami qui a ravagé le port de Ofunato le 11 mars dernier a aussi eu un grand impact sur l’industrie du poisson dans cette région. La plupart des bateaux de pêches ont été emportés par le tsunami: “Nous ne vendons que la moitié de ce que nous gagnions avant le tsunami”, nous dit-elle avec un peu de timidité dans la voix. La peur de la présence de poissons radioactifs dans la régions avait également conduit les consomateurs Japonais et étrangers a boycotter les produits de mer pêchés dans cette région du nord.
Le marché aux poissons de Ofunato s’était retrouvé 15 mètres en dessous du niveau de l’eau le 11 mars 2011, mais avec l’aide d’une centaines de travailleurs bénévoles et le courage des survivants de la région, les pêcheurs ont pu remettre sur pied le port de Ofunato depuis le mois de mai.
Monsieur Kazuushi Nagazawa, 59 ans, un responsable du port de Ofunato dont les deux enfants travaillent à Tokyo nous dit qu’environ “dix pourcent des pêcheurs aujourd’hui sont venus de Rikuzen Takata au port de Ofunato”. Le port de Takata n’étant pas encore reconstruit, les travailleurs se partagent le travail qu’il y a au port de Ofunato: “Ces poissons-couteaux du Pacifique (sanma) sont pêchés dans les eaux proches de la Russie, à Hokkaido où ils sont vendus à leur plus bas prix. Mais vendus ici, plus au sud, leur prix augmente d’environ 20 à 30%, et sont distribués à Iwate, Miyagi puis dans le Kanto et à Tokyo”. En pointant du doigt un document officiel affiché sur l’un des murs débridés du port, Monsieur Nagazawa nous dit que les consomateurs de Tokyo ne sont plus aussi paranoiaques concernant le taux de césium que pourraient contenir les poissons: “Les authorités contrôlent la radioactivité présente sur nos poissons une fois toutes les deux semaines, en mer, et nous indiquent que le taux ne dépasse pas la limite légale de radioactivité”. “De plus ces poissons-couteaux sont pêchés bien loins des eaux proches de la zone du désastre nucléaire de Fukushima”.
En utilisant le port de Ofunato, les marchants de Hokkaido peuvent économiser la moitié de leur essence et coûts de transport en vendant leur poissons-couteaux du Pacifique dans cette région qui est plus proche en distance que d’autres ports situés plus au sud.
La renaissance du marché aux poissons de Ofunato permet aussi aux habitants et aux travailleurs de la mer de Rikuzen Takata et Ofunato, de retrouver du travail dans cette zone où le tsunami a ravagé toute la côte connue pour ses magnifiques pins rouges (matsu no ki). Monsieur Nagazawa nous dit qu’eviron 10% des 300 à 400 personnes qui travaillent au marché au poissons aujourd’hui viennent de Rikuzen Takata: “Nous autres, de Ofunato, nous les avons accueilli dans notre port afin de leur permettre de se reconstruire”.
Monsieur Azuma Higashi, un capitaine de bateau, 62 ans, nous parle du courage des hommes de mer en exhibant les muscles saillants de ses bras: “Nous les marins, nous sommes des hommes durs, nous n’allons jamais nous laisser abattre”. “Environ 80% des bateaux ont été détruits ici, j’ai vu le mien tournoyer dans un tourbillon d’eau quand le tsunami est arrivé, mais il est resté intacte. J’ai beaucoup de chance, d’habitude, je prie énormément les dieux de la mer, c’est pourquoi je pense qu’ils ont épargné mon bateau et ma vie”.
Monsieur Nagazawa nous dit que beaucoup de marins ont réussi à se sauver à temps du tsunami, parce qu’ils savaient instinctivement ce qui allait se produire dans les minutes qui allaient suivre le tremblement de terre et la violence avec laquelle la mer allait les engloutir. “Mais beaucoup de victimes qui travaillaient en ville étaient sûrs que le tsunami n’allait pas les atteindre où ils se trouvaient, aussi loin à l’intérieur des terres”. Pour reconstruire des nouveaux bâtiments dans les alentours du port de Ofunato, les authorités locales ont l’intention de rajouter de la terre sur le sol dévasté, puis reconstruire sur environ deux mètres de hauteurs en plus qu’auparavant. Les habitants de la région sont maintenant inquiets de la saison des typhons qui sont violents à cette saison de l’année.
Nathalie-Kyoko Stucky, au port de Ofunato, le 31 août 2011
Coping with the Rise of the Chinese Military Power
August 25, 2012 Japan Ground Self Defense Force exhibited their capabilities in Shizuoka at their annual exercise.
With China’s increasingly emerging economy and growing military role, Japan, while very exhausted in tackling the great tsunami and nuclear disasters, has to put the defense policy on its agenda once again.
Nathalie and Kyoko,
September 8, 2011, Tokyo – In Japan, particularly after what occurred after the March 11 disasters, earthquake and tsunami, politics has become very much inward looking. Great focus has been made in what has to be done internally. Very little attention and energy has been spent in diplomatic or international policies at present. China might be willing to take this as “a window of opportunity” while Japan is involved in its own domestic problems, Mr. Masayuki Masuda, Senior Fellow from the Japanese Defense Ministry said in a press conference in Tokyo on Thursday: “They might take more active approach in regards to declaring their sovereignty claims over the Senkaku islands”.
What China did after the 3/11 disaster occurred, is very similar to what they did after 9/11 in the US. China perhaps saw this as a way to overcome many of the outstanding problems between China and Japan. Mr. Masuda also said that, from a Chinese point of view, the Chinese feels its people has showed their immense goodwill in trying to help Japan recover from its disaster, however some felt that their goodwill was not well accepted, and as a result, great dissatisfaction has been expressed in China. Especially by an Admiral from the Chinese Navy, Mr. Uh Shong Li, who said very publicly after the earthquake, that the Chinese had showed consideration towards the sensitivity of the Japanese people, by refraining doing the military exercises in the waters surrounding Japan. However, he declared recently that these exercises could not be postponed any longer, and intended to start them soon.
From an economic point of view, according to Mister Masayuki Masuda, the Chinese economy is growing much faster than anticipated five years ago given by some forecast research institutes in the United States. According to Japanese estimates, China will have caught up in scope to the US economy “very soon”.
Although it is very difficult to scope the Chinese nation’s military extension, Japan has been looking at how much the Chinese government could provide to its military budget.
Mister Masayuki Masuda explained that if all the military budgets of the worlds’ nations were put together, the US would still surpass their total military budgets. However, the Chinese future military budget would also expand, and as a result it would eventually catch up with the US.
He said the Chinese military budget compared to the Japanese budget is already of “a considerable scope”, and “by 2020, the Chinese budget would be 6.5 times that of Japan’s” and in 2030, his ministry has predicted it will be 12 times that of Japan’s.
Looking at the US economy, experts can foresee the possible need for payment for social and welfare costs. Also, the US would probably not be capable to maintain a huge military budget going forward.
China has announced plans to eventually build aircraft carriers, although some Chinese people themselves have criticized this approach as being very costly, many are not aware that the shopping list for military hard wears that the Chinese government possesses at present is “much larger than most people understand”, Mister Masuda said.
Also the capabilities of the Chinese military are growing day by day. In regards to estimates published by the US Pentagon, they are areas, territories and waters where the Chinese are able to deny access into very large areas.
Mr. Masuda said Japan should “change its way of thinking”, and make changes in defense strategies, because in the past, all military strategies and defense strategies in this area have been “predicated on the assumption that the US military forces are overwhelmingly more powerful than any other military force in this region”. “However, with the growing expansion of the Chinese military, we must form a strategy that takes into account this power shift which is occurring in this region”.
Mr. Masuda also said that the Chinese are also very cautious in the way they express their confidence but there is no deny that they are very conscious of this power shift taking place. What is occurring already, is that given this background of growing military power by China, it has began to change its ways to approach ways in dealing with other nations. This is particularly obvious when it comes to conflicts in maritime zones: “We have seen changes in the Chinese attitude occurring both in the East China Sea and particularly in the South China Sea. They use power glimpses as a way to force compromise on their counterparts. And this new kind of attitude by China is gaining great support within its nation.”
As China is undergoing a period of political change next year, the world will see President Hu Jintao step down: “China is using their military power in order to back up a diplomatic activities”, Mr. Masuda explained.
However, China has also been sending its fleet in the Gulf of Eden, and fought some pirates in the coast of Somalia. It had been said that the Chinese Navy has been responsible for protecting over 4000 ships in this area. Therefore the growth of the Chinese military has also been able to be a positive development in insuring the international peace.
In the past, Japan’s policy regarding China has always been done in a bilateral context. Outcomes tended to be often mutually beneficial.
Mr. Masuda told Shingetsu News Agency that, although many Japanese would like to purchase new things, “from a realistic point of view, there is very little potential for the Defense budget to be increased, therefore, unless something unusual or drastic happens, the fundamental attitude of the Japanese military is not to try to purchase new things but rather to make better effective use of the things that they already have”. This is the spirit behind the new Japanese Defense guidelines.
In regards to the future Japan-US alliance, Mr. Masuda referred referred the journalists to the recent “Tomodachi” operations right after the great earthquake and tsunami as one of the most unexpected lessons that everyone learned: “The degree of mutual interoperability between US and Japanese forces’ equipment was much higher than it was expected, which is something that brings great satisfaction on the part of Japan and the US, but probably creates great concern on the part of China”. However, Mr. Masuda pointed out that Japan’s relationship with China should not only be a confrontational relationship, and as being neighboring countries, “they should have a cooperative relationship as well. We believe that therefore it is an important issue to develop a relationship of trust between the military forces in Japan and China”, he added.
With regard to the way Japan should proceed with its cooperation with South Korea to handle China’s behavior, Mr. Narushige Michishita, Associate Professor at the Japanese National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) told Shingetsu News that Japan had already been inviting Korean officers to observe a US-Japan joint exercise in the Japan Sea after the Senkaku Islands incident last year: “If South Korea decides that they can plug in their assets in the Japan-US alliance by imitating Japan’s new purchases, their forces would be interoperable with Japanese forces. However, at this stage, South Korea has not made a political decision to actually come into an anti-China coalition, and they do not have to”. “We are not talking about a Cold War yet”.
Nathalie and Kyoko, Tokyo
Met Art Tokyo Charity Auction for Aid to Victims of the Great Northern Japan Earthquake
Met Art Tokyo Charity Auction for Aid to Victims of the Great Northern Japan Earthquake
Venue: Friday 10 th of June 2011, 6:30 PM
Place: Roppongi Hills Club
Sponsored by: Excellence International
Special help from: Frank Mueller, Reading, Hotel Metropole
Excellence International expresses deep condolences to the loss of many precious lives during the Great Northern and Kanto Earthquake on March 11, 2011, and to all those who were affected by this disaster we would like to show our support.
Excellence International contributed to the rehabilitation of the victims of the disaster zone, with the cooperation of Hotel Metropole Monte Carlo, in Monaco. A charity auction of the original Qee Bear (a popular collectors’ art toy) was held in Tokyo on June 10. The Original Qee Bear auction raised 2344,500 Yen (20’000 Euros), which will help the WFP (World Food Program) for reconstruction assistance throughout all of North-Eastern Japan.
The auction was organized along with gala charity dinner at the exclusive, private Roppongi Hills Club. During this event, the artist Mrs Liqing Shuhuajia who participated in the Bear Design, produced a live instrumental music painting which she donated to the auction.
In addition, the violonist Iwao Furusawa kindly performed live music from his new June 2011 released album, on the theme of Love and Hope, in order to deliver his message to the disaster affected areas.
We would like to add our prayers for the affected people from the disaster zone that they may regain their confidence and former living standards as soon as possible.
Nathalie, Kyoko and Mayu Amano, Excellence International
Thaksin Underscores His Closeness with New Thai Premier
By Nathalie-Kyoko Stucky
Tokyo – Exiled Billionaire and Former Thai Prime Minister, Thaksin Sinawatra Plans to Rebuilt International Reputation by Visiting Japan’s Tsunami Victims this Week
Tokyo – 23 August 2011 – This week, Thaksin Sinawatra plans to visit the Japan’s tsunami victims as part of a controversial attempt to rebuilt his international reputation. Japan’s Justice Minister Satsuki Eda said on August 15 that his Ministry would approve Thaksin’s visit as a special case under the immigration control law, which normally bans entry of convicted criminals. After the 2004 tsunami disaster, Thaksin received global sympathy and his party won a disputed election which his opposition parties boycotted.
“Thaksin obviously wants to use the Japan trip to help facilitate a possible push for his amnesty later,” Tulsathit Taptim, Editor-in-Chief of The Nation newspaper in Bangkok, told the Washington Times. “His Japan trip, however, is being viewed internationally as an unwise step that would weaken his sister (new Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra) politically.
Many criticism has been made over the fact that the newly elected Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Sinawatra, Thaksin’s youngest sister who is eighteen years younger than himself, is too closely related to him. Thaksin confessed at a press conference in Tokyo that he is “really close” to his sister, who he sees like his “elder daughter”, because he partly raised her after his parents passed away when Mrs Yingluck Sinawatra was eight. Thaksin said that after Mrs Yingluck took her Masters Degree in an university in the US, she joined his mobile phone company in Thailand. He said he “trained her” to become the president of his owned company. His sister and himself are in constant contact as family members. “I act like an encyclopedia, whenever she wants to open the book, she can feel free to open and close it”. Thaksin also told the journalists in Tokyo that he would go back to Thailand if he is not be part of the problems. And that he is willing to “urgently go back” if he could be part of the ruleship. Nathalie and Kyoko (unedited version)
Wikileaks News: Masaki Kondo, Jiji Press 2010, Geneva
【ジュネーブ時事】民間の内部告発サイト「ウィキリークス」の創設者ジュリアン・アサンジ氏は５日、時事通信に対し、近く公表する多数の機密文書について、日本や中国に関するものも含まれることを明らかにした。具体的な内容については言及しなかったが、早ければ年内にもウェブ上などで公開する方針という。
同サイトは、アフガニスタンやイラク駐留米軍に関する米政府の機密文書をインターネット上で公開。近く米国やロシア、レバノンに関係した数千の文書を新たに開示する見通しだ。
一方、オーストラリア出身の同氏は、ウィキリークスを運営する上で安全な場所が必要だと強調。「スイスは歴史的に独立した国だ」と述べ、スイスに移住することを検討していると明言した。
同氏は国連人権理事会で５日行われた米国を対象とする定期審査に合わせ、ジュネーブを訪れた。（了）
Madame Butterfly : une version Japonaise moins controversée
Pour la première fois, un metteur en scène Japonais a l’audace de réviser le contenu d’un chef d’œuvre de l’opéra italien.
Takao Okamura, directeur artistique à Tokyo met en scène une nouvelle version du célèbre opéra de Giacomo Puccini (1904) en corrigeant les erreurs de représentations culturelles qu’il avait commises, il y a plus d’un siècle, lorsqu’il a créé l’un de ses plus fameux opéras qui ait mis en scène la Nagasaki du 19ème siècle, en commettant des énormités culturelles jusqu’ici intouchées.
La toute première version retouchée du célèbre opéra italien avait en effet été présentée au public Japonais en 2003 et 2004, à Tokyo. « Jusqu’alors, même à l’Opéra National du Japon, les mêmes erreurs culturelles se perpétraient sur scène ».
« Au temps de Puccini, il était difficile de se rendre au Japon, c’est pourquoi Puccini avait mené ses recherches auprès de la femme de l’ambassadeur du Japon à Rome. Les sources et l’expérience Japonaise que Puccini avaient vécue n’ont pas toujours été extrêmement fiables ».
L’idée était donc de corriger toutes les mauvaises interprétations que contient la représentation originale.
C’est « Madame Crysanthème » de l’auteur Français Pierre Loti qui avait été le premier roman à introduire la culture Japonaise et le Japon à l’Occident après l’ouverture du pays avec l’arrivée du Commodore Américain Matthew Perry, en 1854.
Les erreurs que nous pouvons retrouver dans la représentation sont par exemple, Suzuki, la servante de Madame Butterfly entonnant un air Bouddhique en se prosternant devant un temple Shinto. Ou par exemple le suicide final de Cio Cio san (Madame Butterfly) sans l’aide de sa servante. Le suicide pour l’honneur étant un acte qui se pratique toujours en compagnie d’un assistant. « Je suis très heureux de pouvoir effectuer ce travail dans la langue maternelle de Puccini. Mais dans ma version révisée de l’opéra, les erreurs culturelles susceptibles d’irriter les Japonais et les Japonophiles n’existent pas”.
nathalieandkyoko 